Is This Really You?
by MAT23LUV
Summary: Karin doesn't know how this happened. But it seems Toshiro is no longer who he once was. A quick oneshot on a failing Hitsukarin.


"What am I to you?" Toshiro looked away from his phone for a mere minute, wearing a questioning look.

A questioning and tired look-as if she had just asked him to run a ridiculous and tiring errand. 'Is that what I am to him? An errand,' she thinks.

"I mean, from your perspective who am I?"

The comprehension of the question passed over his face and he rolled his eyes. His fingers resumed their typing, his dark and indifferent eyes glued to the screen once again.

"A girlfriend obviously. Tch. Don't ask such stupid questions Kurosa- ahem, Karin."

"Yeah, of course. Sorry."

The dark haired girl pushed herself off the couch with a small nod and counted her steps to the front door.

He didn't ask where she was going.

Tears dripped off her chin as she drove. The day he had accepted her rushed confession, he had agreed to always call her by her name Karin. No more formal Kurosaki. But he nearly had, despite catching himself like the quick-thinking person he is.

She wiped her eyes at a red light and blew her nose when she found herself in some light traffic. Its not like anyone was going to stare at her anyway. Besides, what did it matter what people thought?

By the time she had parked, her eyes were dry.

On the way back she grabbed a milkshake off the fast food drive-thru. As she waited for her change, she glanced inside the popular outlet.

There was a couple on every other table. Giggling, holding hands, poking each other with straws, exchanging intimate touches via under the table where they thought no one saw them, etc.

A memory popped up in her mind. It stung.

"Hey Toshiro, what am I to you?"

The two of them sat back to back at the soccer field, the ball a few meters away. Both of them were sweaty from a close match but he'd beaten her anyway.

She felt him jerk back in surprise to the question and felt him chuckle softly.

"You're an idiot. An annoying and loud idiot."

Allowing the temporary irritation to control her, she nudged him. "I said what am I not what are you." The boy behind her laughed a bit before sighing.

"You're my best friend in the whole world," she heard the smile on his voice and the blush on his cheeks (which greatly resembled her own), "and you're also a pain in the ass."

Both of them had ended up talking and laughing for more than an hour, describing what the other was to them.

Such a contrast to what had happened when he had answered her earlier that day.

When she got home, he had looked up from the television and said hi. Then he froze and looked up again.

He blinked twice and opened his mouth, then closed it.

Then, "What?"

"You cut your hair." "Yes, I did." "Why?" "It was getting annoying. Besides, why not?" "Why not," his eyebrows came together, "but everyone said you looked nicer with long hair."

There was a pause.

"Since when have I cared about what people thought of _my_ hair?"

"Well I thought you would at least care about what _I _think, Karin." "Oh and what do you think about my new hairstyle?"

Another pause. She glared; he stared and clenched his jaw.

"I preferred your long hair." "Because you yourself liked it or because everyone was complimenting me on it?"

He sighed and glanced at the muted television. "Is that what this is all about? Don't be silly Karin."

A pause.

"Anyway, you should try dying your hair. Chocolate brown maybe, it's a new trend here. You would look nicer."

She was at a loss for words. Had he just asked her to _dye her hair_? Was this the same person she had fallen for? Was this really the Toshiro who didn't care about what others thought, never bothered to keep up with trends and thought dying one's hair was a waste of money?

Had he changed so much in just under a few months?

Karin walked to her room and packed her few clothes in a duffel bag before changing into jeans and a sweater.

She walked out the door, ignoring his calls.

She did not look back. Not even when the tears began streaming down her cheeks and onto the hard, cold pavement.


End file.
